


Hills and Stars

by WitchipediaAus



Series: Cello [4]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Amnesia, Character Development, Clueless Character, Escape, F/F, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Kinda, Running Away, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 09:00:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WitchipediaAus/pseuds/WitchipediaAus
Summary: "Why do people sit on that hill?"You tilt your head and allow Cj to show you what she's talking about. She takes this, however, as permission to guide you out of the shelter to the hill. You don't fight her on it.





	Hills and Stars

**Author's Note:**

> hi i love making Cello suffer

"Elliot?"

"Yeah, Cj? What's up?" You look at the girl. She's getting better at the whole 'not killing people' thing and you think she's trying to work for people to get money instead of stealing it - which, you suppose, you should have had an issue with.

"Why do people sit on that hill?" 

You tilt your head and allow Cj to show you what she's talking about. She takes this, however, as permission to guide you out of the shelter to the hill. You don't fight her on it.

When you actually reach the hill, you laugh quietly. She looks at you, eyebrows raised in a more innocent manner than normal. "Cj, they're looking at the stars."

"Why?" God, she sounds like a kid. Innocent, questioning, and trying to make sense of this confusing world.

"Because- I don't know. Some people find it calming, some find it beautiful." You smile, remembering a time when you thought the same. "Some, like me, find it a good way to escape. There's so much in space, Cj, but we still call it a void."

You're sitting now, feeling the grass bend beneath your touch. Cj sits behind you and plays with your hair.

(You still aren't sure if she's remembered anything yet.)

"The galaxies are so pretty, full of stars, other planets, and maybe life! Actually, a lot of things on Earth might be from another planet - like cryptids and plants."

"Why don't scientists know for sure?"

"Technology. And maybe the aliens are hiding from us. We can be quite terrifying, you know." Cj hums in agreement.

"Frea's an example?"

"Yeah, Frea's definitely on the list." You think you should give Cj a history lesson, but you've been hoping she'd remember on her own by now.

Cj doesn't seem intent on letting your hair go anytime soon, so you settle into her lap and talk. You talk about a lot; stars, planets, a little history, and even a few stories about working with David, Gwen, and Ophie.

Cj talks a bit herself, although not nearly as much. You think she likes the way your voice flows. She tells you about Felicia, her vague feelings of familiarity, and a mission or two that went well.

When you ask, she tells you about Felicia's feelings on writing cover ups.

"She doesn't like it, says lying is a bad thing to do unless for a surprise, but she finds the stories interesting to put together. They're well-written and have little to no holes, don't you think?"

You find it comforting to know that at least on other camper retained morals, though it still seems loosened. "She was in writing camp. I think that's part of her job too. Can you imagine what Frea would do if people saw through the lies?"

Cj shivers behind you. You lean back. “Good point. She said lying is a no-no for people with morals.”

You can’t help but agree, finding flaws with the idea in entirety but otherwise it was solid.

“Elly, what are morals?”

Somehow you aren’t surprised she doesn’t know what those are. “They’re… rules on what you can and can’t do at any given point. They’re more guidelines for what people see as acceptable. They also tend to be flexible and entirely relative. In the real world they don’t mean much, but Felicia always liked fucking with peoples’ heads by making her characters morally grey – no clear morals and don’t follow society’s – or have no sense of morality.”

You don’t mention that you’ve met Max’s morality from the weird shenanigans at camp. That’s a little too much, you think. When you look up at her, she still looks confused. “Most people are raised around morals and don’t think too much about why they think something’s wrong. I assume the whole, um, brainwashing thing has erased that from most people that work for Frea.”

“Then why does Felicia remember them?”

“She writes. That means research, not to mention her being the resident Researcher. She probably didn’t get that erased for her job either.”

“That would help.” You snort at her sarcasm, though you shouldn’t find it funny.

“Did you know she had insomnia?” You didn’t hear much about it, but she looked tired a lot. “I think it was because of writing.”

“Insomnia… That’s the thing where you can’t sleep, right?”

“Yeah, kind of. She used to wander around the forest late at night and early morning because she couldn’t sleep. Nearly scared me to death a few times.” You can’t help but laugh. “I fell off a hill once because she stepped on a twig behind me and I hadn’t seen her. Thought she was Moth Man before she ran up asking if I needed help.”

“She didn’t look tired. Not when we last saw her, at least.”

“She’s gotten better, I think. She used to decide to sleep at random times, but Frea keeps a strict schedule. Felicia can’t do half the stuff she used to.”

“Is that bad?”

“Maybe.” You aren’t sure, now. Felicia got better; you were less anxious when you knew what was expected exactly every day; and Cj looked more content there.

(Cj was probably more content because she was able to get her anger out and hurt people who hurt her back. But you aren’t thinking about that right now.)

Max had been less angry too; David felt freer to express emotion; Gwen admittedly had a better job. And all you had to do was do as you were told.

_Kill,_ whispered a voice in your head. You barely heard it. It sounded familiar. _All you had to do was kill, treat, and listen._

That wasn’t living. That was being controlled.

You notice that Cj hasn’t stopped messing with your hair, but has switched what she was doing. She’s trying to calm herself down now, so you continue. “No, I think it was bad, but was covered in good things. That happens sometimes – in relationships, jobs, school, and the works.”

Cj seems content to leave it at that and asks you if you know any other facts about stars. You do.

 

And so, you spend a few hours on the hill, talking and relearning things about each other. This Cj, you discover, is pretty different from the other one you knew. She’s more content with being ‘dumb’ or not knowing something, but only for short amounts of time. She still wants to learn and has an affinity for math related things now.

You don’t know what she figures out about you by the time you lead her back to your makeshift home. She seems happier now that she has more knowledge, her eyes lighting up in a way you haven’t seen since she got drunk.

You like that look on her and ask what she wants to learn about. When she tells you, you decide the library might be a little too greedy for their own good. Might want to change that.

**Author's Note:**

> Elliot: askthecryptidhunter  
> Cj: a-creative-camper
> 
> pls leave comments i love them


End file.
